Twilight Pride and Prejudice
by Sarah Snape92
Summary: A combination of two of the most greatest love stories! What would happen if Edward and Bella were in the position of Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet...
1. Chapter 1

**Twilight/Pride and Prejudice**

**Chapter 1**

_"In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you..."_

_Elizabeth's astonishment was beyond expression. She stared, coloured, doubted, and was silent. This he considered sufficient encouragement; and the avowal of all that he felt, and had long felt for her, immedieately followed..._

I slammed the book shut; a reflex action to losing my concentration and tripping over yet another tree root as I slowly walked towards the top of my road. Why did they have to grow trees in such awkward places? Clumsy people such as myself have enough trouble trying to avoid hitting them whilst walking, never mind when they're reading at the same time! I tucked my book under my arm and carried on walking, smiling slightly to myself as I recounted the scene I had just been reading. Of course it was my own fault for attempting to read whilst I was supposed to be walking; I and everyone around me knew what a klutz I was, so it didn't suprise anyone if I tripped, or fell or bashed into someone; they always knew it was most likely to be me, and in the small town of Forks which I lived in, there weren't many people I could hide my clumsiness from. Everyone knew each other, and everyone knew each others business whether you wanted them to be aware of it or not. I turned and began a steady stroll down my road, keeping my head down as I focused on moving my feet in the correct order: _left right left right let right left right..._

"Bella!"

I glanced up and immediately stumbled over my own younger sister Alice was running frantically from our house towards me, her long dark hair bobbing up and down in a ponytail. She had a huge grin plastered across her face, and her cheeks were red as she hurried to me and quickly conveyed the information her lips were quite clearly bursting to reveal:

"Oh Bella you must come quick! What took you so long? We have amazing news! You know that big posh house just the other side of town? Well it is now being occupied! Mum says it's a young man who's about twenty years old! He's apparently extremely handsome, and he's gonna be joining our school when we go back next week! Mum says that if we play our cards right he might want to go out with one of us, and maybe even marry one of us! Then oe of us would get to live in that amazing house with him, and then the rest of us would be able to meet more handsome young men, and then we could marry them! And then..."

I circled round Alice whilst she continued her excited babbling, and headed towards our front door. It was obvious that the majority of what came out of her extremely immature mouth had been put in there by our mother. She was an incredibly pushy woman, who lived only to see her five daughters married to rich, fine young men- not that there were many in this day and age. This was one of the reasons I liked Pride and Prejudice so much; it seemed that the situations in my lifestyle mirrored some of those in Elizabeth Bennet's, although _I _was never going to be swept off my feet by anyone with good looks, riches or attitude such as Mr Darcy; in fact it hardly seemed likely I was ever going to be wanted by anyone. I was a plain, quiet, self conscious seventeen year old who preffered to sit in the back row of everything, and not be the centre of attention; it seemed I'd landed with the wrong type of mother for that to _ever_ happen.

I let myself into our house, leaving the door for Alice to close. I dashed quickly up to my sister's and my room and dumped my coat and book on my bed. Then I headed back downstairs towards a source of commotion going on outside my father's study: Alice and my other sister Jessica were both poised at the keyhole, listening to a rather heated conversation taking place the other side of the door, and giggling like a pair of hyenas. Going imediately into responisble big sister mode, I walked right up to them and scorned them for their lack of respect upon our parents' privacy.

"Alice, Jessica! What have I told you before about listening at the door? It is incredibly rude and you're both old enough to know that-"

"Sush Bella! We know all that. But this is about something that concerns us!" whispered Jessica excitedly.

"Yes it's what I told you just now about that young man who's moved into the big house!" giggled Alice, "Apparently he's seriously wealthy and earns more than the Queen of England!"

I highly doubted that part, and just rolled my eyes at my sisters' stupidity. Grabbing them both by their jackets, I began to tug them away from the door, but Alice had not finished recounting what she'd overheard:

"And there's rumours that he has other people with him, but the best part, do you wanna know the best part? He's SINGLE!"

Jessica's expression went into a dreamlike state, just as a soft voice whispered in my ear "Who's single?"

"A wealthy young bachelor apparently," I answered before turning to my elder sister Jane. She had a small smile on her face as she watched me tugging ruthlessly at our youngest sisters.

"Eavesdropping again I see," she stated simply, before relieving me of Jessica's clothing and pulling her away herself.

"Oh come on Jane!" moaned Alice as we manouvered them away from the door, "wouldn't you like to know more about this elusive stranger?"

"All in good time," replied Jane as all four of us collapsed on the living room sofa and a strong fit of giggling took over.

"I hate to think what they would be like if we ever got to meet this young gentleman," said Jane smiling at me.

"Oh please don't make me think about it," I grinned, "We'd have to put them both on leashes!"

Jane laughed and suddenly we heard the door of the study creak open and the sound of our mother's hysteric voice entered the room:

"But we can't visit if you do not, as you well know my dear Charlie! You must go and visit him at once!"

Alice and Jessica were off the sofa in an instant, and immediately ran towards our beloved, worn out father, and began pestering him.

"Oh dad you must go and visit him! We would love the chance to get to know him! Please, please yu must!"

"You've got to listen, please, you never listen, you must go at once!"

Charlie came casually strolling into the living room hampered by our mother, Alice and Jessica. The third eldest in our family, Bethany, small, opiniated and intelligent, hovered lightly in the doorway. A look of confusion on her face as to what was going on.

"Dad please, please, please, please_ please!_" begged Alice, dancing round the room like an excited pixie.

Dad out up a hand to silence her, and a smile formed across his face. "Begging will not get you nowhere my dear, as I have already called upon our fascinating new neighbour Jasper Hale."

So his name was Jasper Hale; that sounded very promising, and the look on our father's face was not one of dissaproval as he said his name.

Mum was in a state of shock. Alice and Jessica leapt up and resumed their frantic dancing around the room, squeals of delight erupting from their lips.

"There's more than that," our father stated calmly, "Mr Hale was kind enought to inform me that he would love to have the pleausre of meeting all five of my daughters at the School Welcoming Ball next week."

The room erupted into shouts of excitement. Jessica grabbed hold of Jane and asked what she could possibly borrow from her closet for next week. Alice began singing, her voice full of delight, Bethany turned her nose up and carried on reading from the book she held in her arms; mum flew herself towards dad and planted a very loud, wet, sloppery kiss upon his lips. I cringed and turned towards my sisters, and found myself laughing at their enthusiasm and excitement; feeling a mixture of both feelings began to fill my body and fuel my laughter.

Next week couldn't come too soon for anyone in this household!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The next week ploughed on slowly. My excitement began to ebb away as I immersed myself in coursework that needed to be handed in at the start of term. To be honest, I wasn't as obsessed with the whole Jasper Hale situation like my mum and sisters, in fact I was hardly interested at all; at the end of the day he was just another guy, and from what I'd seen of blokes nowadays there wasn't much worth getting excited about. Yes he had a fair amount of money on him, and that was a fairly nice prospect if, like us, you have to keep tight control of where your money goes because you don't have enough of it. But at the end of the day, what would his character be like? Would he be funny? Would he be clever? Would he have an interesting variety of hobbies? Or would he just be a typical guy who used sweet talk so he could worm his way into another girl's knickers? Yep, that sounded quite likely; for it was the attitude of every other male living within this small, secluded town. Why should he be any different? I remember getting teased by my sisters the other day for stating my extremely fierce opinion towards the opposite sex, and I admit they have a point; I have had very little experience in making an effort to socialise with men, but they just don't interest me. I'm not attracted to guys who have cute hairstyles or wear the coolest deoderant, I'd like to think I would be taken in by their personality, their attitude, the person that they actually are. But since every boy within my school is obsessed with being like someone other than themselves, I've pretty much let that dream dissolve into nothing. Sometimes I dare myself to hope that there _is_ someone out there for me, someone who would want me, care for me, need me and love me as I would them...but is he really out there? Would I ever find him...

"Bella, Bella! How can you sleep through this din? Bella! Please wake up Bella."

I groaned loudly and rolled over to find Jane peering down at me, a look of wonder on her face.

"Goodness, I have never known anyone who sleeps as deeply as you," she giggled, "World War three could break out and you'd still be snoozing throughout it! Time to start getting ready I think dearest, the ball starts at six thirty and it's half past one already!"

"What!" I shrieked loudly, fumbling for my clock. I glanced wearily at it and saw that Jane was perfectly accurate in her timing. Leaping out of bed, I grabbed my towel with an aim of diving quickly into the shower.

"It's no good Bella, I'm still hanging around waiting," sighed Jane, "Alice has been in there for the past forty- five minutes, and Jessica's been yelling at her for the last half hour."

"So this is what I've been missing," I replied tiredly as the noise from the bathroom began to pound against my sleepy eardrums: Jessica was screaming her head off, and Alice sounded like she was singing in her most annoying way, no doubt to encourage her sister's frustration further. I resettled myself on my bed, and Jane came to sit beside me; I noticed that she too was still in her pajamas, her curly blonde hair cascading down upon her shoulders. In an ordinary household, this kind of situation could be overlooked with parents saying that there were hours before we were due to be at the ball, and that stressing about it was not going to help anyone. Definetely easy words to say, but not that easy an atmosphere to achieve. Especially when you lived in a house such as ours, with only one bathroom and six women forever fighing to use it, five of whom were all menstrual. I sighed heavily, and Jane smiled understandingly at me. She looked tired and frustrated- although she'd never admit it. Jane was one of those people who kept her feelings to herself, but devoted her kindness towards the wellbeing of others. I could not ask for a more caring sister, she was so thoughtful; I took her hand in mine and asked her how long she'd been up for.

"Almost an hour," she replied calmly, "I can't believe we slept in so late though, must be the fact that we'll have to get up even earlier tomorrow morning, our subconcious' felt we should make the most of our last lie in," she laughed quietly.

"Yeah tomorrow's gonna be torture," I groaned; if we all wanted to have showers in the morning before going to school, then we had to have a rota, which meant we had to get up at an early hour every morning.

We sat in silence for about ten minutes listening to the commotion going on outside the bathroom. Mum had decided to come and sort the screaming out, but she was having little luck and was becoming almost as aggravated as Jessica. In the end I heard the sound of Dad's authoritive voice rising up the stairs, and grinned to myself: _Now_ we could get ready.

The music pounded at a heavy pace; the dance floor was flooded with heaps of people moving in time with the rhythm; the lights blared and the heat of excitement filled the entire hall. I sat between my beloved elder sister and my best friend Angela, my feet tapping in time with the music as we caught up on things we'd done over the summer. Alice and Jessica flaunted thenselves on the dance floor, surounded by a group of giddy and lovestruck boys, and Bethany hovered in the entrance to the Gym looking rather frustrated and bored.

I turned to Jane and smiled at her stunning beauty, emphasised by the light pink dress she wore. I looked nothing in comparison to her or Angela, who was dressed in deep blue; I was wearing my simple dark green dress with my hair thrown back with clip, a bit of lipgloss was smeared across my lips, but other than that I looked not much different from how I did normally.

"Now if every guy in the room does not fall madly in love with you by the end of this evening then I can safely say I am no judge of beauty," I said loudly over the sound of the music.

"Neither are the guys if they don't fall for me," Jane replied jokingly.

I laughed, "No, boys are far too quick and easy to judge."

"They're not all bad."

"Humourless poppycox in my limited experience," I said grinning at Angela.

"One of these days Bella, someone will catch your eye, and then you're gonna have to watch your tongue," said Jane simply, gazing happily around the gym.

I just smiled sheepishly and turned to Angela, who was looking at me pointedly.

Just then, the music began to die down as the crowd around the entrance began to part in the middle, allowing a pathway for four people to come in. Jane, Angela and I stood up in order to gain a better look: there were three young men and one young woman; they stood in the entrance for a few seconds until the Principal, Mr Peters, went over to introduce himself and began showing them into the hall.

"So which of the painted peacocks is Jasper Hale?" I asked Angela, for all three of the guys were dressed in deep blue tuxedoes.

"He's on the right," replied Angela, having already been introduced to them by her cousin a few days ago, "and on the left is his sister and his other brother."

"And the person with the quizzical looking forehead?"

"That's his best friend Edward Cullen."

"He looks miserable poor soul," I whispered quietly.

"Miserable he may be, but poor he most definetely is not," replied Angela.

I looked at her, the question written across my face.

"He's due to inherit $30,000 when he's eighteen, _and _his parents own an enormous estate in Los Angeles," smiled Angela, "imagine being the lucky woman who marries him eh Bella. Hint hint"

I laughed at such an impossibility, but relaxed my face as the four of them approached us. I nodded my head in recognition as they passed, and Edward Cullen turned and looked straight at me, his amber coloured eyes piercing right into my chocolate ones. I flushed and looked straight at the floor; glancing up only when I was sure they had moved on. As they took positions near to the far end of the gym, the music began to pound at full volume again; people took back to the dance floor, moving vigourously to the music. Angela turned to me and Jane:

"Shall I take you to meet them?"

"Are you sure?" replied Jane shyly.

"Of course I am, they won't bite," she smiled reassuringly, "besides I'm sure your mum wouldn't be too happy if she hears you were never introduced to them,"

A frown formed on my face, "Yeah you're probably right Ang, I don't think I want to live with my mother's wrath for the next few weeks,"

Angela giggled and took my hand, I grabbed hold of Jane's, and we made our way towards the group of newcomers. They turned to look at us as we approached, and I found the blush creeping back into my cheeks.

Angela was quite fearless despite her usual shyness. She smiled at all of them and then proceeded to introduce us.

"Hello again Jasper, Emmet, Edward, Rosalie, it's so nice to see you all again. May I introduce my friends, Jane and Bella Swan."

Their eyes turned to us as Angela said our names, Jane smiled in a friendly and courteus way, prompting a smile from the boy named Emmet, whose friendliness immediately caught Jane's attention; her eyes became fixed on his face, as his were on hers.

"I'm delighted to meet you both," smiled the boy who I guessed was called Jasper. I smiled shyly at him, "may I introduce my brother and sister Emmet and Rosalie, and my good friend Edward Cullen."

Both Jane and I smiled to each one of them as Jasper said their names; but only Emmet smiled back. The other two simply scowled in a way that said quite clearly that if it were up to them they would not be here. Oh well there was always one or two who had to try and ruin it for others. Emmet proceeded to engage in conversation with Jane, both of whom seemed quite taken with each other. Jasper moved towards me and Angela, and asked if my other sisters were here at the ball, him having been told there were five of us by our father.

"Oh yes they're here," I replied over the din of the music, "my younger two sisters are just over there dancing, and my other sister is standing by the doorway."

"Oh yeah I see," said Jasper smiling. He caught sight of Alice and Jessica, and his smile broadened, "looks like they're having a good time."

"Yes," I agreed, "although sometimes we do have to reign them in; they can get rather over excited."

"Good for them," smiled Jasper, his eyes were now fixed on Alice, "would you mind if I just go and say "hi" to them?"

"Oh no not at all," I said quickly, suprised by his politeness, "I'm sure they'll be only too happy to meet you,"

"It was lovely to meet you Bella, maybe I'll catch up with you later yeah?"

"Cool," I said happily, feeling like I'd made a very nice friend, "you go enjoy yourself."

"You too," he said, and disappeared off into the crowd. Somewhere thoughout our conversation, Angela had drifted off, which meant I was left standing near to the scowling Edward Cullen. Jane and Emmet were immersed in conversation, and Rosalie had moved further into the corner of the gym. Not wanting to appear judgemental or rude, I forced myself to go over and make an effort to speak to Edward; although judging by his expression, it hardly felt worth it.

"Hello Edward, you're friend seems quite keen on dancing," I said, having just caught sight of Jasper dancing cheerfully with Alice, and gesturing to them now.

"Yes he is," replied Edward sternly in a soft, velvety voice, his eyes momentarily fixed on them.

"Do you dance yourself?" I asked, not sure where I was going with this.

"Not if I can help it," Edward said. His eyes did not make contact with mine, and he made no effort to continue the conversation, so, biting my lip in slight embarrasment of the sudden silence, I left him to it and went off to find Angela, who was stood on the edge of the dance floor.

"Hi Bella," she said taking my hands and whirling the two of us round gracefully, causing us to giggle uncontrollably, "look who Jane's dancing with"

I stopped laughing and turned to see Jane and Emmet dancing quite happily and in deep conversation.

"Oh she looks so happy," I smiled, "and have you seen who Alice is dancing with?" I checked to see if Jasper was still with Alice, and saw the two of them dancing quite intimately.

"Ooo isn't she lucky," squealed Angela, "mind you, I had a feeling something might start up between her and Jasper; he seems like her kind of guy,"

"Hmm maybe he could keep her feet on the ground," I smiled mischeviously.

Angela grinned, and we moved back towards some seating, and spent the next twenty minutes talking and laughing. Suddenly we heard Emmett and Edward Cullen talking near us; Emmett was trying to persuade Edward to join in the dancing, but by the sound of Edward's responses, he wasn't getting much luck:

"Come on Edward, you've gotta come and dance. I hate to see you walking about in such a stupid attitude."

"There are no girls here with whom I wish to dance."

"Rubbish! I've never seen so many pretty girls in my life!"

"_You _are dancing with the only beautiful girl in the room."

"She is the most _beautiful _person I have ever laid eyes on, but her sister Bella is very pretty too."

Angela raised her eyebrows at me, I giggled and waited for Edward's reply.

"She is tolerable, maybe. But nowhere near pretty enough to tempt _me_. You'd better get back to your partner and enjoy her smiling; you're wasting you're time with me."

Sensing defeat, Emmett left Edward and returned to Jane. I stared down into my lap, disappointment rushing through me. Angela gave me a few minutes before she spoke gently:

"Hey, count your good luck Bella, just think if he liked you you'd have to talk to him!"

"Precisely," I smiled, "I suppose I would not dance with him even if he was willing to say nothing, never mind having a full on conversation!"

Angela laughed and stood up. Taking a deep breath, I pulled myself out of my seat and we plunged ourselves into the crowd of dancers, taking the opportunity to socialise a little more with our fellow classmates.


End file.
